5 things to watch for when the Bears face the Buccaneers
By Todd Welter
The Chicago Bears hope to rebound after a horrendous Week 1 performance when they travel to Tampa to face the Buccaneers.
The Bears were trounced last Sunday by their rival, the Green Bay Packers. The team looked unprepared and lacked intensity.
The Buccaneers went up to Minnesota and defeated the Vikings. Baker Mayfield (we will get to him shortly) and Tampa’s defense (we will address them later) looked formidable.
That does not mean Chicago still does not have a chance to get victory over a Tampa team that was projected to be one of the worst in the NFL.
The Chicago Bears are looking for a big win on Sunday afternoon in week 2.
It will not be easy for the Bears to go down to the Florida heat and snap their 11-game losing streak.
They must find a way to win this game if they hope to snap this skid before September ends. The Chicago Bears have a trip to Kansas City to face the Chiefs in Week 3.
There are five areas to pay attention to when these two former NFC Central division rivals face off:
1. Justin Fields pushing the ball down the field more.
Fields failed to provide sufficient evidence during Week 1 that he is making progress in the passing game. Justin admitted he played too conservatively.
Fields couldn't pinpoint why he felt he played conservatively against Green Bay but talked about an opportunity he missed to DJ Moore when he was scrambling to his right and missed Moore running across the field. Matt Eberflus said that before Fields scrambles and runs, they want…
— Courtney Cronin (@CourtneyRCronin) September 13, 2023
Fields did a great job hitting his layup passes, but it was a detriment to pushing the ball down the field.
Now there is a worry that Fields is either not reading the field correctly or just not seeing his receivers open downfield. Even more concerning is Fields might still not understand the difference between college open and NFL open.
Either way, Fields must show he can throw his receivers open and take some shots down the field. Hopefully, the offensive line (we will get to that unit shortly) can give him time to do that.